Hankook Tire Europe

TYPO3 as CMS and marketing tool: for one of the world’s key players in tire production – Hankook Tire – the company's former, in-house developed CMS was replaced with an Open Source solution from TYPO3. By choosing TYPO3 it is now possible to integrate and edit content online for the European market section of the website entirely independent of the company's South Korean head office. Set up as a multi-lingual company and product presentation, the site (currently only available in English) leaves a lasting impression on its visitors, thanks to the use of cutting edge design, exciting Flash-Movie content and an integrated product-finder. A further six localized version are ready to launch and will shortly be going live.

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Challenge

In the context of a re-design and technical conversion of Hankook's European website by AOE media, the entire available content was migrated and a complete new structure introduced, based on the latest thinking on usability. In addition, a newly developed Corporate Design was extended to take in the company's Internet presence. The goal was to create a website which, on the one hand, would fittingly present the company's products in an appropriate setting and, on the other, would offer a wealth of practical information and useful web-tools to explore the world of Hankook Tires.

Solution

By choosing TYPO3 as the new CMS, the previous complicated system, only accessible for editing via a Korean interface, has been made obsolete. For the first time, Hankook staff can now correct, edit or upload content into the website, without requiring either an understanding of Korean or of HTML. In addition, pictures can now be introduced or replaced without recourse to laborious uploading via an FTP client server.

To ensure a particularly lively and visually interesting site, visitors are greeted on the splash page with a high-resolution integrated Flash-Film giving an instant introduction to the advantages of the new range of Hankook Tires. This movie fits perfectly into Hankook's overall European marketing strategy. A cleverly constructed guide function takes the visitor directly to the most important information, and includes a specially implemented tool to help find the right tire for a particular car.

AOE-developed product catalog

The "Tire Presenter" was specially developed by AOE media staff: this entirely AJAX-based TYPO3 extension is more than "just" an optimized Frontend viewing plug-in to display search results drawn from the site's TYPO3 MySQL database! The Tire Presenter includes all the necessary functions for searching, finding, presenting and comparing tires. It lets you access almost 1400 different versions of the 66 Summer, Winter and All-Weather tires from five different categories. The customer can choose between the many different options to find the ideal tire for a particular vehicle and driving style, with all relevant information being displayed in a detail box. In addition, the two most interesting models can then be chosen and displayed in direct comparison.

Alongside this interactive product catalog, the site also features a variety of standard and custom extensions. Thus the Hankook site uses the tt_news-extension for its comprehensive news area and FAQ page. In the Media Center visitors can see the latest TV ads and company presentations, while media reports from various trade fairs and motor shows are also available for viewing as Flash-Movies.  

And furthermore, thanks to a custom-developed Google Maps API interface, the exact location of the nearest dealer can be displayed to help potential customers find their local outlet.

Result

The new TYPO3 website is far easier for the staff at Hankook to work with, as well as being time- and cost-saving and thus offering a far higher ROI than their previous Content Management System. The particularly attractive use of integrated Flash-Animation enhances the attraction of the site and gives it a typically Hankook Tire atmosphere! Thanks to the wealth of tire-oriented information, as well as the specially conceived "Tire Presenter", visitors are able to access a complete profile of services from the site. Intelligent user-guides and practical tools help potential customers to place an order with their own local dealer.

Link:
http://www.hankooktire-eu.com